BIRDS OF NANTUCKET
AN ODD COUPLE - FELIX & OSCAR?
by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
This was quite a thought-provoking scene. I was kayaking on Ainger Creek on a recent trip to Southwest Florida. We were coasting along with the outgoing tide, past lovely, well manicured homes, and came upon this pair, somehow coexisting as each did its own thing on the expanse of green lawn that swept up to the bulkhead.

Here were two white birds. You'll find them in your bird book under "long-legged waders." One was standing almost still, its attention fixed on a spot 18 inches in front of it. The other was in frantic motion, scurrying this way and that, all the time probing deep into the soil with its long curved beak. Although sharing the same turf, neither seemed aware of the other.

One of these birds is easy to find on Nantucket every summer. We discussed it a few weeks ago in a column titled "Candidissima," the Snowy Egret. The other is a bird we consider "accidental" on our island since there are only three records for it. This is the White Ibis. Although the two looked similar at first glance, they are not closely related at all. Egrets are herons and ibises are, well - ibises.

There are 30 different species of ibis around the world. One, the Sacred Ibis of Egypt, is very helpful when solving crossword puzzles. It is the symbol of the god Thoth and their sacrifice was believed to foil invasions by serpents and flies. The citizens of Hermopolis raised them just for this purpose. One temple contains the mummified remains of over one and a half million of these birds.

In flight an ibis doesn't look much like an egret. Ibises fly with their necks extended straight out and trail their legs behind. They usually fly in long lines with a few flaps and then a short glide. Their flight is fast and direct. Egrets and herons fly with their necks crooked back into their shoulders and have a more labored flight, seldom gliding except when coming in to land. Both these birds have bodies that are roughly crow-sized, but their long trailing legs and long beaks, not to mention being white, make them stand out.

We have Snowy Egrets on Nantucket from April through the autumn. This is the northern edge of their nesting range. On the other hand, White Ibis don't nest farther north than South Carolina. How would they get all the way up here anyway? I love to quote the late, great Roger Tory Peterson's words, "Birds have wings, and they use them!"

Much like human empty nesters when their children finally leave home, White Ibises suddenly have some free time. They are strong fliers and sometimes fly quite high on rising thermal currents of air. We have had two show up in late August, which is when you might expect them. Amazingly Edith Andrews found one dead in a patch of snow in the Mothball Pines on February 18, 1965. She commented she might have missed seeing this white bird except that its bright red beak stood out. To find a semitropical bird like this in the winter on Nantucket just blows your mind. The bird had apparently starved to death. You can actually see this individual White Ibis in the Bird Collection at the Maria Mitchell Association.

A winter record like this reminds me of the Brown Pelican we found flying back and forth over the water at Surfside on January 13, 1998. We had gotten a telephone call about it and were certain that someone had just misidentified a young Northern Gannet. Our jaws really dropped when we could actually see the pelican with its huge pouched beak in our binoculars.

But back to our odd couple - the Snowy Egret's hunting style is to watch patiently for something to move in range and then stab with a lightning-like jab of its bill to capture, in this case, a grasshopper. Nearby our White Ibis was almost running along, actively poking its long, red, down-curved bill into the ground, looking for worms and grubs. In Florida it's not unusual to see groups of a dozen ibis hurrying across your lawn, doing a good job of aerating it in the process. They have been also seen to cleverly lure a crawfish from its burrow by dropping mud on the entrance. When the crustacean emerges to make repairs, he quickly becomes dinner.

I leave it to you to decide which bird represents the fastidious Felix Unger or the sloppy, haphazard Oscar Madison. Whatever you decide, the relationship did not survive. After feeding for 15 minutes or so, Felix and Oscar flew off in different directions, looking for

more comfortable companions. I

George C. West creates illustrations for these articles. If you enjoy 'social' birding, join the Nantucket Bird Club at 8 a.m. Sundays in front of Nantucket High School for a two to three hour birding trip. Call 228-1693 for more information. To hear about rare birds, or to leave a bird report call the Massachusetts Audubon hot line at 1-781-259-8805. Ask Ken a question at: kenandcindy1@comcast.net.